Paul Denning: “It’s been a testing season”

The Rizla Suzuki Team Manager reviews 2010 and explains his hopes for the new campaign in a feature interview.

By his own admission the 2010 season did not go as expected for Rizla Suzuki, but Team Manager Paul Denning has explained in the attached video interview that he has seen enough potential in Álvaro Bautista to hope for much more in 2011.

Injuries for the Spaniard in his rookie season (a fractured collarbone in May) and team-mate Loris Capirossi (a finger injury in September) were just some of the trying moments throughout the campaign, along with a struggle to get the most out of the GSV-R said Denning.

“It has been a very testing season with so many rider injuries, bad luck, and also inconsistency in the performance of the machine,” said Denning in the attached video. “We’ve seen it working really well in some tracks and some conditions, and then badly in others. This has made it difficult for the riders to get into a good rhythm. It’s been a combination of many things and has definitely been much more difficult than expected.”

Discussing the impact of Bautista’s injury early in the campaign, Denning continued: “We can’t say things would have been 100% better but I definitely think he could have found his rhythm a lot earlier in the season without his injury, and maybe pushed forward and achieved the better results earlier in the year rather than towards the end.”

The partnership between Bautista, new to the category, and the experienced Capirossi was a highlight with the former enjoying top-five finishes at Catalunya and Sepang. “They have worked perfectly together,” explained Denning. “They have always been honest with one another in terms of what they feel are the correct solutions for the bike to go quicker. Loris knew immediately that Álvaro would be very quick but that didn’t make him defensive or private, he is always a good team player.”

And looking ahead to 2011 Denning concluded: “Álvaro has shown himself to be a determined rider and the biggest hope for next season is that his speed has been increasing a lot. If we can get the bike working more consistently for him and improve feedback from the bike in cold conditions, and if he can qualify better, I think he has a good chance to race more consistently with the fast riders next year. I’m sure he has the confidence to race with those guys, we just need the platform to improve every week so he can do it.”